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Margaret Heavey Memorial Lecture

Professor Margaret Heavey, a native of Athenry, was Lecturer in Latin (later Ancient Classics) in the university from 1931 to 1958, and Professor of Ancient Classics from 1958 to 1977. During the period 1970 to 1976 she was also Dean of the Faculty of Arts.

Ma Heavey, as she was known, received her BA from then University College, Galway, in 1927, and in the following year had the unusual distinction of graduating with both a Higher Diploma in Education and an MA in Classics (with a dissertation titled ‘The Galatians’). In the year same she was offered the prestigious University Travelling Studentship in Classics, which allowed her to spend the next two years studying in Munich. In the aftermath of the University College, Galway Act 1929, which gave UCG special responsibility for instruction through Irish, Heavey was appointed as a Lecturer in Latin though the medium of Irish in 1931, in the same year that George Thomson was appointed as lecturer (through Irish) in Greek.

Ma Heavey was highly respected as a teacher and was held in affection by generations of her students. She published a number of textbook translations under the name Mairghréad Ní Eimhthigh (Mairġréad Ní Éiṁṫiġ):
Caesar: De bello Gallico II (1940),
Graiméar Gréigise. Cuid 1: Deilbh-eolaidheacht; Cuid 2: Coimhréir (1940) [a translation of Sonnenschein’s Greek Grammar],
Bun-Chúrsa Ceapadóireachta Gréigise (1941) [a translation of North and Hillard's Latin Composition],
and (with Seán Seártan) Prós-cheapadóireacht laidne .i. Bradley’s Arnold (1947).

The esteem in which she was held may be illustrated by two testamonials supplied on the occasion of her promotion to Professor in 1958:

‘The standard attained by her pupils was high, and they combined accuracy and freshness of approach in a way that suggested thorough preparation by a teacher who was ready to take pains over fundamentals while welcoming originality… her mastery of Greek and Latin shows her to be an exceptionally gifted linguist with a feeling for language and a sense of style.’
D. E. W. Wormell (Prof. of Latin at Trinity College, Dublin)

‘Maidir lena heolas ar an nGaeilge, idir a labhairt is cheapadóireacht sa teangaidh, níl agam ach moladh gan cuimse d’Inín Í Éimhthigh. Ina theannta sin, is comhghuaillí ar fónamh í, a bhfuil pearsantacht gheanúil aici, agus a bhfuil gnaoi gach duine d’fheáin an choláiste uirthi.’
[Regarding her knowledge of Irish, both spoken and in composition, I have only unreserved praise for Miss Heavey. Furthermore, she is an excellent colleague, with an endearing personality, and one who has the affection of everybody in the college community.]
Tomás Ó Máille (Prof. of Modern Irish at UCG)

Margaret Heavey died on 15 February 1980. She bequeathed a generous donation to the University in order to establish the Athenry Prizes. Our annual Margaret Heavey Memorial Lecture commemorates the outstanding contribution of Prof. Heavey to teaching in Classics and to the university generally.

(You can read a personal reflection, with photographs of Ma Heavey, on the Athenry Parish Heritage website.)

2014 Lecture

Update: We regret that due to unforeseeable personal circumstances, this year's Heavey Lecture had to be cancelled. We hope to reschedule the event for a later date.

Previous speakers

2013

James Clackson (Cambridge), 14 March: 'How many languages were spoken in the ancient world?'